


Slipping Up

by nekocrouton



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Gen, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8823373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekocrouton/pseuds/nekocrouton
Summary: Written for the Uncharted Advent Calendar over on Tumblr.
The prompt was: “I slipped and fell on the ice.”
Sam carelessly gets injured during the winter days, and his brother Nathan is there to help him.





	

The television blared while Nathan relaxed on the living room sofa, mindlessly watching a program until he heard the front door open.  He turned his gaze from the TV to see that his brother had returned from the store, but Nathan immediately noticed the slight limp when Sam came inside from the snow.  “Hey, are you all right?”  He asked as he sprang up from the couch and made a beeline for his brother.  “You look like you’re hurt.”

 

Sam chuckled, giving a shake of his head as he shut the door behind him.  “It’s nothing, I promise.  I just slipped and fell on the ice outside.”  He winced slightly when he put some pressure on his injured foot.  “It was stupid of me.  I’ll just walk it off.  I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

 

“You could have sprained something,” Nathan said with concern as he bent down to examine his older brother’s foot.  Not that he could see much of anything with the heavy boots that he was wearing.  “Here, let’s get your boots off and I’ll take a look at it.”

 

“I know you’re good at a lot of stuff Nathan, but I didn’t know that you’ve got a medical degree hiding somewhere too,” Sam said with a huff of laughter.  “But all right.”

 

It took a little bit of time to help Sam take his boots off, but Nathan was there to be his support when he needed it, and eventually they were both making their way towards the couch.  Nathan ensured that Sam wouldn’t have to put too much pressure on his foot by letting his brother use his shoulder to lean on, and soon he was helping his older brother to get comfortable on the sofa.  “Now, lean back so that you can elevate that foot,” Nathan gently ordered as he grabbed one of the sofa’s decorative pillows and slid it behind Sam’s back.

 

“Kind of a bossy nurse, aren’t you?” Sam replied jokingly, although he did what his little brother asked him to do, and reclined back into the cushion.  Usually _he_ was the one who was fussing over Nathan whenever he even thought that there was a possibility of him being injured or in danger, so it was a kind of strange role reversal for Sam.  But seeing as that his ankle _did_ sort of throb, he was okay with it.  It was nice to be the one being worried about for a change.

 

“Are you comfortable?”  Nathan asked as he tugged one of the other pillows from the other end of the couch and carefully placed it under Sam’s injured foot.

 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Sam said with a small smile, still amused at his little brother’s concern.  Even if his ankle _was_ sprained, it’s not like it was the end of the world.  After a few days he’d be good as new.  Well, as long as he stayed off of his foot.

 

Once Sam was situated on the couch, Nathan knelt next to his older brother and started to examine his injury.  Gently, he pushed Sam’s sock down so that he could take a look at his ankle, and he frowned at what he saw.  “You look a little bruised there, brother,” he said as he carefully rubbed at the darkened skin.

 

“I did fall kind of _hard_ ,” Sam admitted as he moved a hand up to scratch at his neck.  He still felt _stupid_ for having slipped and fallen on the ice patch in the first place, it was an amateur move on his part.  At least Nathan wasn’t laughing at him for it.  They’d both done their fair share of dumb things in the past after all.

 

Nathan chuckled as he got up from where he was crouching.  “I’ll go get an ice pack, that’ll help with the swelling.”  Just as he was about to leave to go to the kitchen, he felt a hand grasp at his pant leg, which kept him from moving any further.  “Or not?”

 

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks,” Sam said as he released his grip on Nathan’s leg.  He glanced up at his brother with warm, hazel eyes.  “For helping me out and taking care of me.”

 

“You’d do the same for me,” Nathan answered with a smile and a tilt of his head.  “Except you’d probably practically try to carry me over to the couch instead.”

 

Sam laughed.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”  He just couldn’t help being overprotective of his little brother.  But it seemed like Nathan didn’t mind.

 

“I _know_ I’m right,” Nathan said as his smile easily segued into a grin.  “Anyway, let me go get that ice pack for you.  Hang tight for a minute.”

 

“Sure thing, little brother,” Sam said as he folded his arms behind his head and watched Nathan head into the kitchen.  Somehow, even though he was injured, the warm touch of his brother’s fingers had helped to dull the pain.


End file.
